lurker – Austin Metblogshttp://austin.metblogs.com
Sun, 20 May 2018 22:47:44 +0000en-UShourly1https://wordpress.org/?v=4.9.9Shakespeare’s “A Comedy of Errors” at The Curtain Theaterhttp://austin.metblogs.com/2007/09/17/shakespeares-a-comedy-of-errors-at-the-curtain-theater/
http://austin.metblogs.com/2007/09/17/shakespeares-a-comedy-of-errors-at-the-curtain-theater/#commentsMon, 17 Sep 2007 17:18:54 +0000http://austin.metblogs.com/2007/09/17/shakespeares-a-comedy-of-errors-at-the-curtain-theater/This Saturday, September 22, The Baron’s Men will present their one and only public performance of “A comedy of Errors” by William Shakespeare. It will be at The Curtain Theater which is not normally open to the public, so here’s your chance to come see Shakespeare and check out a cool little theater based on The Globe Theater where Shakespeare himself put on his plays. All the pertinent info can be found at the link above including a map. It’s kind of a strange trip down windy gravel roads on hills through normally private wooded property, so if you feel like you’re getting lost then your probably on the right track!
]]>http://austin.metblogs.com/2007/09/17/shakespeares-a-comedy-of-errors-at-the-curtain-theater/feed/2Butch Walker playing ACL Festhttp://austin.metblogs.com/2007/07/31/butch-walker-playing-acl-fest/
http://austin.metblogs.com/2007/07/31/butch-walker-playing-acl-fest/#commentsTue, 31 Jul 2007 16:10:20 +0000http://austin.metblogs.com/2007/07/31/butch-walker-playing-acl-fest/Butch Walker will be playing ACL Fest on September 15 at 5:15 at the Austin Ventures Stage. I highly recommend checking him out if you get the chance.

Ever since I first discovered Butch Walker when he was still with the Marvelous 3, he has become one of my all time favorite artists. I rank him right up there with The Beatles in my esteem (put down the pitchforks!) His music includes some of the absolutely most passionate, emotion evoking music on the planet, some of the wittiest and most clever lyrics, flat out good time rockers, and catchy, infectious hooks. It baffles and saddens me a bit that he is not one of the biggest artists on the planet. I don’t think he has come anywhere near Austin in all the time I’ve been known about him, so take this chance if you can to check him out. I don’t have tickets, so at least go an enjoy it for me!

]]>http://austin.metblogs.com/2007/07/31/butch-walker-playing-acl-fest/feed/1“Deadly Obsession”http://austin.metblogs.com/2007/06/11/deadly-obsession/
Tue, 12 Jun 2007 02:54:17 +0000http://austin.metblogs.com/2007/06/11/deadly-obsession/“Deadly Obsession”, a psychological suspense/horror film is filming at the Studio Estates in Kyle, TX. It also just so happens that yours truly is one of the stars. I didn’t even know this place existed. It’s pretty cool. There is a “guest house” where the top 5 stars of the film can stay and so far it’s just been me and my creative partner (who was also cast in one of the lead roles) in the whole house. This has been, by far, my best film experience so far. The cast and crew are some of the best people I’ve ever worked with. Some of my adventures thus far can be found in this saga.

If you’re interested in getting some experience on a feature film crew, they are still looking for more Production Assistants. There is no pay, but you do get three meals a day and can stay on site if you like (there are a couple of houses where many people are staying and sleeping on air mattresses).

If you’re interested, contact the production office at 512-535-0446 and ask for Lara Gwinn, the Production Manager.

]]>Need to kick your screenwriting into gear?http://austin.metblogs.com/2007/05/17/need-to-kick-your-screenwriting-into-gear/
Fri, 18 May 2007 03:26:33 +0000http://austin.metblogs.com/2007/05/17/need-to-kick-your-screenwriting-into-gear/I know a whole lot of us creative types in Austin. Actors, film makers, writers, musicians, painters, and more. You may remember when I posted about NaNoWriMo, where people strive to write 50,000 words in the month of November. There is always a large Austin group that gathers to write and support each other. Well now it’s time for your screen writers to give it a go.

June is Scriptfrenzy month! You or you and a writing partner write a feature length screenplay of 20,000 words or more in the month of June. In my past participation in NaNoWriMo, I found it a great exercise if nothing else and you meet some really great people. It can really unclog the mental pathways and at least get you putting something on a page. It’s all about quantity, not quality, but you never know, you might end up with a decent first draft!

]]>“Weird Al” in San Antonio on June 8http://austin.metblogs.com/2007/05/07/weird-al-in-san-antonio-on-june-8/
Mon, 07 May 2007 17:34:34 +0000http://austin.metblogs.com/2007/05/07/weird-al-in-san-antonio-on-june-8/“Weird Al” Yankovic is on tour supporting his latest album, “Straight Outta Lynwood”, but sadly it doesn’t look like he’s coming to Austin this time around. Last tour, he came to The Paramount and put on an amazing show. He is playing in San Antonio on June 8 and a few other Texas cities. Check out his tour page for details.

Most people know “Weird AL” as that guy who did some funny parodies. While his parodies set the standard by which all are measured against now, I think he is highly underrated. When I was a kid, it was his parodies that made me discover him but through out the years I’ve developed a much deeper appreciation for him. He is an incredible songwriter and wordsmith with a phenomenally talented band who have been with him through his entire career. His music can be rich melodically and structurally and many times his lyrics are pure genius (though there’s plenty of base silliness to be had too). In addition to his song parodies he also often does “style” parodies where he doesn’t lampoon a specific song but instead a particular band or general style of music. There’s also his legendary Polka Medleys full of popular songs done in polka style.
His original songs are the real reason to check him out. I think “Hardware Store” is just a brilliant song all around. It grooves, has rapid fire dense and funny lyrics, dense harmonies and some incredibly intricate weaving backup vocals.

Other required listening:

“Albuquerque” – an 11 minute rambling epic of randomness

“Genius In France” – I wonder how many people actual get that this is a spot on Frank Zappa “style” parody

“Bob” – Again, I wonder how many people realize that not only is this a Bob Dylan “style” parody but every line of the song is a palindrome)

“Wanna B Ur Lover” – Hilarious R&B parody where the singer is more full of himself than usual

“Dare to be Stupid” – a DEVO “style” parody that Mark Mothersbaugh himself has described as “beautiful”

“One More Minute” – A 50’s style breakup song with extra bite

“Party At The Leper Colony” – If you love puns then this one’s for you

I think I’ll have to stop here as looking through his catalogue is tempting me to list about a hundred other songs such as “A Complicated Song”, “Happy Birthday”, “I’ll Be Mellow When I’m Dead”, “Mr. Frump In The Iron Lung”, “Nature Trail To Hell”, “Why Does This Always Happen To Me”, “Ebay” (brilliant Backstreet Boys parody), “All About The Pentiums”, and many, many more. If you are a fan at all, I highly recommend checking him out live.

]]>Zilker Park rotates its 9 hold disc golf coursehttp://austin.metblogs.com/2007/04/18/zilker-park-rotates-its-9-hold-disc-golf-course/
Thu, 19 Apr 2007 04:42:02 +0000http://austin.metblogs.com/2007/04/18/zilker-park-rotates-its-9-hold-disc-golf-course/Today, Me and a fellow amateur (i.e. really lame) disc golfer went to play a few rounds at Zilker Park only to find they were in the middle of relocating the holes. From what I understand, they have two different nine hold courses that they rotate every now and then. One helpful player we ran into said that the configuration they moved to today is the better of the two in that it’s a bit of a longer course and less of a practice course and it also has better tee boxes that are easier to distinguish. Since they were in the middle of reconfiguring the course, we went and had our usual flogging courtesy of Pease Park. Man, that course completely makes us feel like the new pretty boys in a Federal prison of the kind mentioned in Mike Judge’s “Office Space”. They’ve recently moved a few of the baskets at Pease too (just some minor moves), so if you haven’t played it recently, check it out too. We’ll probably check out the new Zilker configuration on Friday. Now if we just take about 72% of the suck out of our game, that would be something!
]]>Mother’s damaged by firehttp://austin.metblogs.com/2007/03/08/mothers-damaged-by-fire/
http://austin.metblogs.com/2007/03/08/mothers-damaged-by-fire/#commentsThu, 08 Mar 2007 19:31:10 +0000http://austin.metblogs.com/2007/03/08/mothers-damaged-by-fire/Being that my wife is vegetarian, Mother’s has always been one of her favorite restaurants. Even as a non-vegetarian, I found it quite tasty too and it has a great atmosphere out in the garden patio which, sadly, was a total loss. Thus my wife wanted to let everyone know about this article. Apparently a homeless man had started a fire to cook and stay warm and then fell asleep.
]]>http://austin.metblogs.com/2007/03/08/mothers-damaged-by-fire/feed/1Need some alternative Valentine’s Day plans?http://austin.metblogs.com/2007/02/13/need-some-alternative-valentines-day-plans/
Tue, 13 Feb 2007 19:06:20 +0000http://austin.metblogs.com/2007/02/13/need-some-alternative-valentines-day-plans/You might try coming to La Dolce Vita and watching “The Just Desserts“. They’re having their CD release party there on Wednesday, February 14. In addition to the normal string+accordion goodness normally provided by The Just Desserts, there will also be puppeteers, belly dancers, and super yummy vegan desserts made with no refined sugar!

I stumbled upon The Just Desserts when I met some friends for dinner at The Cosmic Cafe (a great place to eat, by the way). Not long after we arrived, a woman walked in with an accordion. Soon after, a man arrived with a cello. My curiosity was piqued. In my head I heard Weird Al Yankovic doing a duet of “Another One Rides The Bus” with Yo-Yo Ma (sadly, this particular aural experience never came to fruition and remains only in my head).They set up and started playing a variety of music, all of which was entertaining and very well done. What really caught my attention, though, was just how much joy they seemed to get from playing. The accordion player looked almost in a rapture filled trance of bliss. It was impossible to watch these people play and not just feel good.

As a complete side note that amused me, at one point I turned to my wife and said “In all my 36 years, I’ve never had an occasion to say ‘Hey, that accordion player is hot!’ until now”.

]]>The Sinus Show, no more!http://austin.metblogs.com/2007/01/24/the-sinus-show-no-more/
Wed, 24 Jan 2007 17:32:42 +0000http://austin.metblogs.com/2007/01/24/the-sinus-show-no-more/While we were taping the Austin Movie Show yesterday, I found out that The SInus Show is calling it quits. They cite “personal issues” as the reason. One of the sinus performers is continuing on with “Master Pancake Theater”. I found this article on The Austinist about it.

For anyone who might not know, The Sinus Show is much like the cult TV classic, “Mystery Science Theater 3000” also known as MST3K. If you don’t know what that is then I’m afraid you must immediately report for “Carousel” (That’s a Logan’s Run reference, so if you’ve never hear of Logan’s Run…Ah, nevermind).

In fact the show used to be called “Mister Sinus Theater” until there were some legal rumblings from the MST3K camp. The Sinus Show was basically three guys who would give a live commentary over mostly really bad movies. I say mostly because they also did some movies like Die Hard, which I don’t think fall into that category, but are still fun to heckle and skewer.

Sadly, despite all the things I heard about how great they were, I never got around to seeing them. I always heard they were one of the best shows in Austin.

Addition:
The official statement from the Sinus Show:

“After six incredibly fun years the Sinus Show is ending its run at the Alamo Drafthouse. Our last show was January 13th. We are sad to see it end, but we are also proud of the shows we’ve had. Over six years of bad movies, unrestrained jokes and partial male nudity– it’s been a blast and we’ve loved being a part of the Alamo.
We understand there’s plenty of questions– what’s next for Sinus? What’s next for the Alamo? — but for now we’d rather simply say thanks for all the people who have come and laughed with us.

Thanks Austin.

The Sinus Show”

Owen Egerton had this to add:

“I’ve had some of the finest times of my life doing Sinus Shows. Austin is great place to hear people laugh. I look forward to many more laughs in the years to come.”

]]>Tourist in my own townhttp://austin.metblogs.com/2007/01/16/tourist-in-my-own-town/
http://austin.metblogs.com/2007/01/16/tourist-in-my-own-town/#commentsWed, 17 Jan 2007 02:48:44 +0000http://austin.metblogs.com/2007/01/16/tourist-in-my-own-town/Quite often I find that people tend to neglect a lot of the sites in their own town that also happen to be places that tourists want to see or might have recommended to them. For example, I don’t think we ever went to the Capitol until my wife’s family visited from England. I had that same sensation this weekend when my friend was visiting from San Francisco. Until this weekend, I had never been to Guero’s and many of the thrift stores down on South Congress. I’ve been missing out.

I had the Queso Flameado at Guero’s. My mouth was a very happy mouth. Not to mention they also had whole wheat tortillas as a choice! Yahtzee! I will definitely be going back there and trying out several more dishes. After that we hit up a lot of the little shops right in the vicinity. I saw so many great things, cool second hand clothes, unique knick-knacks, kitschy tchotchkes and antiques that made me wonder how many interesting stories had been absorbed into their mass. It was a great evening that reminded me of some of the character and other reasons that I love living here. I highly recommend going out as a tourist in your own town from time to time.